The Hub 9/16/2022: Clean Air Council’s Weekly Round-up of Transportation News

“The Hub” is a weekly round-up of transportation related news in the Philadelphia area and beyond. Check back weekly to keep up-to-date on the issues Clean Air Council’s transportation staff finds important.

BillyPenn: Elevators Are Coming To SEPTA Stations – SEPTA is investing over $500 million to make all stations on the Broad Street Line and Market-Frankford Line accessible. The Tasker-Morris station is one of many that will be renovated. Construction to install elevators and make other improvements at this station began earlier this week.

Next City: Taking Back São Paulo’s Streets, One Sunday At A Time – In 2016, the mayor of  São Paulo banned cars from the iconic Paulista Avenue on Sundays, and faced a lot of resistance. A study in 2019 revealed that the program had a positive impact on business. Now residents and store owners believe the program should be expanded to other major streets and other days of the week.

CityLab: Return-To-Office Push Does Little To Solve Transit Agency Problems – Return-to-office policies and the start of the academic year are not enough to boost transit ridership to pre-pandemic levels. In New York, this policy resulted in a 35% ridership increase compared to last year, but ridership is still stuck at only 63% of pre-pandemic levels. Transit agencies continue to face farebox revenue challenges.

The Inquirer: Commuters Dodge Headaches As Freight-Rail Strike Averted – Freight rail companies and their workers made a deal on Thursday which prevented the looming freight rail strike. Some of the largest commuter lines across the country would have been forced to disrupt service because they use tracks that belong to a freight company.

Image Source: Next City